Slaughter advances the Wilson School by reaching out

If being in two places at once violates the laws of physics, Anne-Marie Slaughter may be on a personal mission that pushes those laws to the limits.

Slaughter, a 1980 graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, is finishing her first year as dean of the school. Whether it is being interviewed on CNN, writing for The New York Times op-ed page, hosting a campus colloquium or speaking to a local chamber of commerce, she is working hard to expand on the strengths of the school as an accessible, visible place that fosters academic excellence, strong opinion and spirited debate.

"My role is to be out there," she said. And out there, in the public eye or meeting with the broadly defined Princeton community -- from faculty to alumni to students to administrators -- is where Slaughter spends a good deal of her time.

In a recent interview, she said she has a vision of the Wilson School as "Princeton's nexus with the world of public and international affairs." Toward that end, she has created a seminar series in the nation's capital, recruited new faculty members and served at the forefront of an effort to help create a new international institute.

She is especially proud of the Washington, D.C., seminar series, which "brings together school faculty, policy practitioners and other academic and non-academic experts from across multiple disciplines to foster debate about and advance solutions to pressing domestic and global policy problems."

The programs, held every four to six weeks, are aimed at Washington-based policymakers, Wilson School and other Princeton alumni, the media and the legislative community.

"The impact of the Washington seminar series has been overwhelmingly positive," said Slaughter, noting that she plans to continue the series next year. She said the programs already have achieved a key objective of demonstrating "how the academic research conducted at the Woodrow Wilson School feeds into the policymaking process. By hearing directly from those on the front lines of policymaking, [we are incorporating] what we learn into our research."

The full story is available in the Weekly Bulletin.

Contact: Evelyn Tu (609) 258-3601